Vladyslav Kaskiv extradited from Panama to Ukraine

Former director of the Ukrainian State Agency for Investment and National Projects Vladyslav Kaskiv has been extradited from Panama to Ukraine, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko has said.

"Currently, Kaskiv has been taken to the Main Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General's Office. Investigative actions are underway," Lutsenko wrote on his Facebook page.

The Pechersky District Court of Kyiv has ruled to arrest for a period of two months with an option of a bail, Vladyslav Kaskiv, the former head of the State Agency for Investments and National Projects of Ukraine. "The Pechersky district court decided to "apply a preventive measure against Kaskiv suspect in the form of detention within the two months pretrial investigation period. Set for the suspect Kaskiv an alternative measure of restraint in the form of a bail," press secretary of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Larysa Sarhan wrote on Facebook.

The Prosecutor General said that his extradition took place at night on November 1. He recalled that Kaskiv is suspected of entering into a criminal conspiracy in 2012 with other persons to embezzle the means of the state budget of Ukraine in the amount of about UAH 7.5 million.

Kaskiv was declared internationally wanted under Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on charges of "large-scale misappropriation of property by an official through abuse of office and through collusion with a group of persons" and under Part 2 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on "forgery by an official."

It was reported on September 8, 2016 that Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office had received confirmation from Interpol that Kaskiv had been arrested in Panama. On September 12, a court in Panama granted Kaskiv a $600,000 bail, after which he applied for political asylum.

In March of the current year it became known that Panama had refused to grant political refugee status to Vladyslav Kaskiv.